Any Newborn Nursery Nurses?

[my2sons]

I am a burned out ICU nurse with 10 years experience. I'd like to change specialties and am exploring my options. I have ruled out NICU for now and am considering Newborn Nursery. The idea of caring for relatively healty little ones who are just starting their lives is very appealing to me since I have been caring for seriously ill/injured adults who are often at the end of theirs. Any advice on how to get started? I have recently registered for Neonatal Resuscitation Certification. What are the typical activities in the Nursery? All I have are my own kids' experience (they roomed in and were taken in the morning for weights) and the little I remember from nursing school. Temperature maintenance, Vitamin K shots, and nitrate ointment stand out very clearly! I also have a strong desire to help breastfeeding mothers. Thanks for any input.

[wjf00]

I have worked at several Hospitals, and none of them had RN's in newborn nursery. They all used an LVN, and only staffed the Nursery at night. You might consider a level II NICU, lots of grower feeders.

[nekhismom]

I work a level II NICU. Those babies are pretty stable, and MOST are a joy and quite easy to care for. Growers and feeders are what we have. It's very low stress. I just want a faster pace right now.

Actually, I have caught myself saying quite often that I would have had more work and more learning to do if I HAD gone to a wellborn nursery!

[vwgirl]

Don't laugh at me, but after four years in the nursery I am kind of burnt out on babies. It could be that my own kids' crying at home is enough for me, but come five a.m. when I have eight babies that all need to eat at once and all need to have blood drawn and have hearing tests done and vaccines given, I get to feeling like I want to run screaming down the hall! I too, have a strong desire to help moms breastfeed, but I really don't get a whole lot of time to do so, because I am trapped in the nursery by myself and have to beg to come out to go to the bathroom . Plus, most of my moms don't speak English and when you try to explain the importance of early breastfeeding, they tell you they will do it "when they go home." Babies are a miracle, and can be darn cute, but too many of them all at once all the time gets draining, pretty much like anything else, I guess.

[nekhismom]

I can understand burn-out. I guess that can happen anywhere.